Powwow Water Company Ltd was a British producer of bottled spring water, producing exclusively for water coolers. The spring water originated and was bottled in Fillongley, Warwickshire. There was also a production site in Chesham.
Powwow Water was one of the most popular spring water brands for water coolers in Europe, used in all industries from commercial to residential.
The brand was originally created in 1990 by Hutchison Whampoa and was sold to Nestlé in 2003. It was then bought by Powwow Water Company Ltd (formerly Lomond Hills Water Company), which went into administration in March 2010.
Powwow went into administration in March 2010[2] and Wild About Water UK Ltd (part of 2468 Group) subsequently negotiated a deal to buy the assets of the business. They retained the POU watercooler customer base and sold the bottled watercooler customer base to Eden Springs UK
During their time extracting water in Chesham, the river Chess ran dry and remained so until extraction stopped, when within 6 months it had returned to its former level. This was the only time that the river has dried up apart from a short time during the drought of 1979. In 2005 Councillor Justine Fulford campaigned to prevent the extension of the licence to extract water, on the grounds that it was hurting the local environment.[3]
Fraud
Over several years there have been reports[4][5] of companies chasing supposed unpaid invoices relating to "Powwow Water Company Ltd". Most recently between December 2014 and continuing in January 2015 demands and threats of winding-up proceedings are still being sent.
The agents acting on behalf of the Insolvency Service state "Nobody has authority to collect [this] debt and it has been this way since April 2013."[6]
In January 2015 the Economic Crime Unit also re-iterated that demands should not be paid[7] and that those who have paid demands should provide their evidence to the Economic Crime Unit, Glasgow.
1 Currently manufactured by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. 2 Brand owned by General Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license. 3 U.S. production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 4 U.S. rights and production owned by the Smarties Candy Company with a different product. 5 U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. 6 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. 7 Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland. Produced by Post Foods elsewhere. 8 Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. 9 Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned by Fraser and Neave. 10 Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. 11 Used only in the Philippines. 12 U.S. production rights owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. 13NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019. 14 Brand owned by Mars, sold by Nestlé in Canada. 15 Produced by Froneri in the U.S. since 2020.
